"They say Smolensk is not Belarus, and then I find my husband's diary." Belarusians and Russians discuss a Belarusian-language diary in a Russian school

A user on the Threads platform, under the nickname lkolokolchikova, shared a photo of her husband's school report card ("Information on student performance and behavior") for the 1994/1995 academic year. The piquancy of the situation lies in the fact that a resident of Russian Smolensk studied using a document created for Belarusian schools and formatted in Belarusian.

"First they say Smolensk is not Belarus, and then I find my husband's diary..." the author captioned the photo.

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The form clearly shows printed but unused fields for "Belarusian language" and "Belarusian literature." Subjects taught in the Russian school were handwritten in Russian next to the printed Belarusian names.

Another characteristic detail of the document is the presence of the subject "Fundamentals of the Soviet State and Law." This indicates that the forms were printed even before the collapse of the USSR and lay in warehouses for several years until they were taken to be sold in neighboring Russia in the mid-90s.

The thread gathered hundreds of comments, dividing the audience into two irreconcilable camps — Belarusian and Russian.

Belarusian users used the photo as an occasion to recall the historical and cultural ties of Smolensk with Belarus. It was in Smolensk on January 1, 1919, that the BSSR was declared, and the city was its first capital.

"In 1855, the census — 51 percent of the population were Belarusians... Russification is obvious"; "The city's name is similar to Belarusian ones: Minsk, Vitebsk, Smolensk... The architecture of cathedrals and churches is entirely uncharacteristic of Russian."

The author of the thread herself notes that the scales fell from her eyes regarding the Belarusianness of the Smolensk region only after emigration: 

"Before moving to Warsaw, I thought my grandmothers spoke 'country-style,' but now I understand that, in general, it was either Belarusian or something like trasianka."

Commentators also mocked Russian teachers who couldn't translate basic subjects from Belarusian, such as "Fine Arts" or "Drafting," instead writing "Fizkult" and "Izo" respectively. 

"At least three adults failed the simplest task of filling out a couple of lines in a diary," joked one commentator.

On the other hand, Russian users reacted negatively to Belarusian comments.

"First they say Smolensk is Belarus, then they're surprised when the paramedics arrive."

"As a joke in 7th grade, I brought a Moldovan-language diary from my sister in Transnistria and studied with it. So, is Smolensk Moldova now? Where do you lot come from, you 'pots'?"

"Notebooks with the inscription 'Zoshit' in Chelyabinsk do not indicate that Chelyabinsk is Ukraine."

Total deficit and Belarusian "shuttle traders"

The real reason for the appearance of the Belarusian diary in the Russian school is, of course, economic. In the first half of the 1990s, the Smolensk region found itself in a deep socio-economic crisis with a total deficit of consumer goods.

In these conditions, spontaneous "shuttle trade" with neighboring countries became a salvation for the Russian border region. Small traders brought everything they could buy to Smolensk: from food products to cheap stationery, including those old Soviet report card forms printed in Belarus.

"In those years, everything was sold from Belarus in Smolensk, probably the diaries too. They traveled on electric trains, brought butter, condensed milk, everything in a row," recalls one of the commentators. "There simply weren't any diaries in the 90s, they brought them - sold them, and that's how it happened," confirmed the author of the thread herself.

Today, Belarusian goods still occupy a significant portion of Smolensk's shelves, and local authorities even lease land to Belarusian farmers due to the weak development of their own agriculture.

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